Emilio Pucci / Spring 2012 RTW

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What’s the meaning of the house of Emilio Pucci? Swirly, multicolored, psychedelic-era sixties jet-set prints? Yes, but then what? For several years, this was a label with a respected heritage, but little traction in “gotta-run-to-it” desirability. Then came Peter Dundas, a dude with an angle on maximal, sexy-but-classy fantasy. In a Milan season that has been all about the consolidation of unique voices in fashion, his scorchingly rich gypsy-themed collection provided a point of view which puts him on a par with the city’s unmissable fashion attractions.

“I wanted more heat,” he shrugged with modest understatement as he was bombarded with Pucci-clad international acolytes who jostled backstage in a room which had already hit about 90 degrees in the Italian Indian summer this city is enjoying. They’d just sat runway-side, fanning themselves while observing a collection of swirling printed skirts, tiny lace-edged tops, and slews of lace-encrusted dresses, sheer body-slinking knits, and modern takes on decorated, jet-embroidered tailoring. The body-heat from the models—working the spirit of Bardot in her hippie phase with their smoky eyes, crucifix necklaces, and wanton ponytails tied with scarves—would have been enough to cause a male meltdown even if the air conditioner hadn’t already surrendered.

The point about Dundas is the way he can carry a theme like this—one of the most well-trodden paths in fashion history—without seeming cheap. In his mind, the Spanish-gypsy travelogue was, “A way of coming home to the house of Pucci, with all the prints.” True enough, the scarf-prints collaged every which way in handkerchief-point skirts and dresses were gifts for any number of pretty girls on their way to louche summer-night events. Somewhere in the background, though, Dundas’s experience as a couture designer at Ungaro allows him to stop short of uncontrolled flamboyance. His way of piecing lace into a silk slip dress, or embroidering a high-waisted red skirt with jet beading displays skills he learned long ago in Paris. And amidst all this unfettered glamour, he’s smart enough to also be thinking about the way women can wear opulence for day: print shirts, primly done up to the neck, but embellished with crystal, worn over tailored shorts or pants. It may not be Pucci as it used to be understood, but kudos to Peter Dundas for making it his own.